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In the short-term, promotion to League One is the target. Long-term, Cowley insists the club still has plenty of room for growth, insisting Sunday’s silverware must be a springboard for future success.

The former Braintree boss is now regularly linked to jobs at higher-league clubs – most recently Ipswich Town – and fielded more questions about his future after the Wembley triumph.

Cowley again stressed his commitment to the Imps and has confirmed he is looking to relocate his family from Essex to Lincolnshire. Cowley and brother Nicky currently divide their time between Lincoln and the south-east.

“That’s 27,000 people who have either got Lincoln or Lincoln City somewhere in their heart,” said Cowley.

“There aren’t many League Two clubs with that potential following. The aim now is to try and attract them back. We’ve seen what a loyal support can do and the influence it can have.

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“It’s definitely moving forward off the pitch,” said Cowley on the club’s training ground project.

“We’ve achieved our success in the Checkatrade Trophy despite not having a training ground. We’ve been between the army barracks [in Burton Road] and Robert Pattinson School.

“And we haven’t able to train at the barracks since October because it’s been under water.

“So we’ve done really well in challenging circumstances. There aren’t many clubs in League Two that don’t have their own training base, so for the club moving forward, we need a base to work from, it’s absolutely essential.

“The progress the club has made has been so fast, so it’s important that we use the success on the pitch to build a stable foundation and infrastructure, both in terms of facilities and staff to ensure we can have sustained success. That’s what we have to do.

“That’s really important because the successes don’t happen without the support mechanism in place.

“The end result is the 11 footballers running around on the pitch, but there’s a lot of work that goes into allowing them to play at their best.

“We’ve got to keep moving our provision forward. If we can do that it will allow us to have more days like Sunday.”